When we were in lockdown in Somerset back in 2020, we lived on a narrow boat on the Bath and Avon canal at Bradford on Avon for a few weeks. It was a lovely time - bright blue skies and sunshine, and no one around because we were all under regulations and laws to 'keep us safe'.
Despite being disappointed our Europeon travels were stymied, we had an amazing time exploring the area by foot, including my family history which I dated to the area to the late 1600's which was pretty cool. We walked around Bradford on Avon a lot - some of you might remember me talking about this old Saxon church, which is the oldest complete Saxon church in England! Mad. However, due to COVID we couldn't go in it.
This time, however, we could. We were in town to go out for lunch for my leaving, with my mother in law and her partner, Jamie and his sister, and myself of course. We walked across the bridge from the restaurant hotel Timbrell's Yard, to the church whilst waiting for our reservation.
The Saxon Church of St Laurence dates back to the 10th or early 11th century, apparently founded during the reign of King Æthelred the Unready. It was quite possibly a monastic church, and was pretty much forgotton until it was rediscovered in 1856 Canon William Frampton. Howe you lose or rediscover a church is a mystery but hey.
Architecturally, it's a simple rectangular design that is rather tall and narrow, and very simple. It has small high windows and some intricate stone carvings. The interior retains original elements such as the stone altar, whose carvings were really beautiful.
I really loved the angels up on high - a little hard to capture in the photo above. I also adored the worn stone step at our feet. It's no logner used for worship, as it's a historical site, and serves as a resource to teach or show people about medieval England.
After the church we headed back over the river to Trammel House. Some of you might remember me talking about it as we ate here with a friend when we first arrived. The food and service here is great, and it's right on the edge of the canal.
I did take photos of our entree, though I forgot about taking photos for the main meal. We shared whitebait, olives and bread, and artichokes with pecorino, which was all delicous. For mains, I had a polenta with wild mushrooms, chargrilled leek and some kind of mash - it was nice, but I thought it was abit sparse as it was only a small piece of polenta and needed some kind of tasty drizzle. Jamie had a pork and fennel ragu, my moother in law and her boyfriend had sausage with an amazing truffle mash, and my sister in law a delicious penne with yoghurt and chermoula which sounds wierd but was pretty good!
For desert I had a raspberry and white chocolate cheesecake with raspberry sorbet. I don't usually eat desert but it felt like a celebration of sorts - as sad as I am to be leaving, it's been quite the holiday!
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With Love,
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